XVII.—The Small Spore Floras of Coals in the Limestone Coal Group and Upper Limestone Group of the Lower Carboniferous of Scotland

Synopsis This paper provides a comprehensive account of the small spore assemblages of coals in the Limestone Coal Group and Upper Limestone Group (Namurian) of the Lower Carboniferous of Scotland. The coals were obtained from boreholes sunk in the Lothians, Central, and West Fife coalfields. Over ninety species of small spores are figured. Of this number twenty-six are new species. Five new genera— Glomospora, Procoronaspora, Callisporites, Tholisporites and Remysporites —are described. Full descriptions are given of all new genera and species. The assemblages are compared with assemblages of similar age in North America, the U.S.S.R. and elsewhere, and it is shown that the Carboniferous pre-Westphalian microfloras were uniform over wide areas of the earth's surface.